{"id":2470,"date":"2020-03-20T13:55:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T04:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vhbloglive.wpengine.com\/?p=2470"},"modified":"2020-03-20T13:57:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T04:57:27","slug":"the-convenience-of-japanese-convenience-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/local-area-guides\/the-convenience-of-japanese-convenience-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"The Convenience of Japanese Convenience Stores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most\nunexpected things you may experience when you go to Japan is how different\nconvenience stores are compared to their western counterparts. There are many\nsimilarities as most stores of this type follow the same basic idea, but it has\nthings it does so well that it becomes hard to think of a convenience being any\nother way. You will find yourself asking why stores in your home country don’t\ndo these things and trying to find ways that they could improve themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Location Location Location<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the best\nparts of convenience stores in Japan is that there are so many of them all over\nthe country. Anywhere there is some form of a town or village there will be at\nleast one convenience store. They are in the best places to maximize profits\nand can be helpful in a bind. In the city, there are stores on almost every\ncorner, and it is normal to have three to five different stores within a\nfive-minute walk from each other. Some hotels have stores attached to them,\nthere are some kiosks or stores in every station, and they are in all of the\ngovernment buildings too. They truly take the “convenience” part of\nthe word seriously and ensure no one has to go without having a place to shop\nfor food and drinks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Unload Your Trash<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A big thing you\nwill notice when walking around the city is the lack of trash cans or recycle\nbins. Typically, there are no places to throw your garbage away when walking on\nthe street. They were removed due to litter from the overflowing cans and to\nprevent any kind of attacks that use trash bins as holders. Since you cannot\nfind one on the street the next best place is to go to a convenience store.\nThey will always have trash receptacles available for the public to unload their\nunwanted trash. Some stores will have them placed outside for easy access, but\nmost tend to keep them inside of the store. It is perfectly fine to walk into a\nstore to get rid of wrappers and other waste. Try to make sure you are putting\nit in the right bin, and to help with the influx of visitors, they have labeled\nthe cans in both Japanese and English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dine in or Takeout<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The average\nconvenience store in Japan will have a standard amount of snacks and drinks.\nThere are aisles full of potato chips and traditional Japanese snacks that will\nkeep your stomach happy as you travel through the country. They also have hot\nand ready snacks in every store, and it is usually an assortment of traditional\nJapanese foods, like dumplings, dango, and oden, along with fried foods such as\ncorndogs, fried chicken, and fries. These are cheap options that will fill\ncravings for a hot treat. They cook it in the store and keep filling the\ndisplay case throughout the day. There is a bakery section in each store as\nwell, and it has an assortment of small breadstuff. These are a good option as\nwell since they are cheap but filling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The biggest thing\nin terms of food that these places do very well is their small grocery\nsections. They will have some choices of vegetables and fruits, mainly locally\ngrown things, and a meal section. These meals are cheap and taste great. You\ncan get full salads, ramen, pasta, curries, and other dinners for around 500\nyen. There is a section of pre-made sandwiches as well that really help if you\nare in a hurry. There is a section for things to cook at home as well, so you\ncan do some light shopping for the house if you need a few things. The onigiri\nsection is usually the most popular, and each one comes with some different\nkinds of flavor and filling. These traditional Japanese snacks are always being\nbought and are a staple in most people’s diets. They all give you an option to\nhave the food heated in their microwaves, and some stores have areas available\nto sit and eat your food. The rest areas may even have charging spots for\nphones and offer free wifi for visitors. If you don’t want to stay or you need\nto hurry, they will bag the heated meal and give you utensils so you can eat it\nwherever you are planning to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Take a Rest<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some stores,\nespecially in the cities, will have a rest area on the first or second floor.\nYou can use these areas to relax a little after a long day of walking or\nworking. They can be very helpful with charging spots and free wifi, but also\noffer a quiet spot to calm down from the busy day. You will often see people\nusing it as a place to take a short nap, or students using it as a hangout or\nstudy area. It also helps that most of them have toilets for use to the public,\neven if you don’t buy anything. If you are in the city, though, they won’t have\none to help keep the stores from getting too crowded with non-shoppers. You\nwill need to go to nearby stations or department stores to take of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill pay<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your bills in\nJapan will have a bar code on them that you can take to any convenience store\nin the country and pay. It is very simple and requires almost no Japanese since\nthe clerks know exactly what you are trying to do by looking at the paper. They\nwill take the sheet, scan it, you will press an “OK” prompt on the\ntouch screen to signify you agree with the transaction, they will stamp parts\nof the main bill and your receipt, and you pay the balance with cash or card.\nIt is a fast and easy, and extremely helpful to pay for all of your utilities.\nYou can even pay for packages from Amazon at the stores, you just need to show\nthem an email with the barcode. Since it is still a largely cash based society,\nthey continue to offer easy ways to pay in cash for all of your needs. Every\nstore has an ATM that will be able to take foreign cards too, so getting money\nin an emergency is quick and easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Words and Phrases<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since the idea of\nconvenience stores is borrowed from western cultures, they have adopted many\nwords and phrases into Japanese using katakana. Some of these will be easy to\nunderstand during your first experience but there are a few interesting changes\nthat have been made. Here a few words to help you out when you get to Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Konbini=\nconvenience store<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Dog=\ncorn dog<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salada= salad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fried Potatos=\nFrench fries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pan= bread<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Toire= toilet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genkin= cash<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irasshaimase=\nwelcome to our store<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atatamemasuka?=\nwould you like this heated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsuginookyakusamaonegaishimasu=\nNext customer, please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurejitokaadomoidesuka?=\nis a credit card ok?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those were only a\nfew examples, but they can help you navigate using a convenience store easily.\nIt is always good to see a store as they come in handy all of the time. They\nwill definitely improve your experience in Japan, and will change how you view\nconvenience stores in your own country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most unexpected things you may experience when you go to Japan is how different convenience stores are compared to their western counterparts. There are many similarities as most stores of this type follow the same basic idea, but it has things it does so well that it becomes hard to think of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-area-guides"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villagehouse.jp\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}